Time for Her to Come Home for Christmas

The small church is adorable, the opening song " Star on Top of the Tree" by Grace Leer was beautiful and maybe my favorite new Christmas song for 2023,

Abandoned by her father at the age of one and having lost her mother this year, the orphaned Carly doesn't have anything keeping her in Philadelphia for the holidays. She accepts a two week position as choir leader for a small town church at the invitation of the pastor and his wife. Her task is to choose the songs for the Christmas program and whip the struggling choir into shape.

I really loved how the film highlights that every person has a different story. From holding on to the happy memories of a deceased wife, to holiday crazy, to a returning soldier who dreamt of home and a specific egg cream, to a timid individual pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, to a kid working hard to help his single mom.

"What's life without a little bitter."

I really appreciated the fun tradition of swapping a Christmas record like a secret santa gift. (I might have to start that with my husband.) I also loved the lesson about sharing the emotion and intent of the lyric when you sing...share your joy with those that you love. I like that they brought back door to door caroling. Spreading the joy...not keeping it to themselves.

It was fun to see Shenae Grimes-Beech (Carly) outside of the 90210 realm, I almost didn't recognize her with the bangs. She and Chris Carmack had wonderful chemistry together and were supported by a great small town cast. Beyond the usual falling in love and finding family story...my favorite part was the portrayal of a small town coming to support its individuals as depicted with the storyline of Tyler, whose single military mom pushed him to do an activity-hockey or choir...but who is working hard in all his free time to support her, his mom while going to school and singing in the choir, while his dad is away in the military.

Kathleen Duborg played a wonderfully warm and wise mother named Diane...I think Blake Shelton and his mom Dorothy Shackleford have another hit on their hands. I am not sure which one is my favorite, I would have to watch them again to determine that..I did really enjoy this year's offering.

I think fans of Hallmark holiday films are going to love this one and I recommend it.

I also loved the song that was playing while they made egg creams...I wish I knew who it was, "Christmas is my favorite time of year...keeping out of trouble till the big guy appears...".

I found this to be boring and kind of contrived. My spouse even fell asleep during it. There are some glaring plot holes here and you've seen this type of material many times in the Hallmark movies. The cast is likable and they work hard to give this story some oomph, but the script is just not that interesting. There is nothing special about the sets or the locales - it's all recycled stuff that you've seen before. Plus, as soon as the lead character says "My father left right after I was born" at the beginning of the movie, you can probably figure out how this was going to end. We did - and that was before my spouse fell asleep !

I've seen all the installments of Time to Come Home for Christmas and they are all at least better than average.

I would compare this one to the Time for You ... with Allison Sweeney, but even so it's quite different. In all the installments the secret is unveiled slowly. In this one it isn't as obvious that Carly is here for a reunion but pretty quick you start to see little things that tell you something is up. I figured it out very quickly, almost from the first clue.

As in all of them, there is a romance around the central character. I can't say I thought the chemistry was great between Shenae Grimes-Beech and Chris Carmack. His Matt seemed to be above it all.

In some, if not all of them, Destiny seems to be big. They all feature more than a couple of interesting coincidences.

Are you tired of the song yet? I don't recommend a bingathon of this series. The song is catchy but it gets repeated a lot. Last year they seemed to rewrite the history of the song and they keep that version this year. In the original Heath Sawyer wrote it from scratch, not the Blue Notes. Somehow this song didn't seem to be something you would expect from a church choir, but then this church was more of a family or feel good church than any particular religion.

Note: I think I am submitting this before the broadcast premiere because it has been available on the streaming service for a couple weeks now.

The latest in a string of similarly titled Hallmark holiday romances produced by Blake Shelton, this one lacks the chemistry of those I have seem previously.

Shenae Grimes-Beech stars as Carly, a music teacher from Philadelphia who agrees to travel to the small town of Waterford Creek to help a church choir with its Christmas program. When she arrives, she finds that the choir is a vocal mess.

She also meets Matthew (Chris Carmack, who you may remember from "Nashville"), a returning soldier who hopes to join the local fire department. He has feelings for local girl Jenny (Lauren Jackson), but has not seen her for five years.

Carly convinces Matthew to join the choir. She connects with each choir member on an individual level. And she bonds with townspeople, in general.

In the end, this is a story about people without families, who may feel "lost", especially during holidays. It's a worthwhile subject, but this production lacks energy.

In the first minutes of the movie the male star appears in uniform and the most visible element is the division insignia on his left shoulder. Couldn't wait for the star, Chris, to get out of uniform into his civilian clothes. It would have been so easy to get a quick consultation on simple elements like the unit insignia. The10th Mountain Division patch was turned on its side and was grating to watch. Doing a Google search for the 10th Mountain would immediately present the proper postioning of the shoulder sleeve insignia.

While walking out of doors he should have been wearing a cover until ready to board the bus. Simple elements make a big difference.